Keone Madrid & Mariel Martin :: Don’t Stop The Music :: Urban Dance Camp

i went to LA last week to visit some longgg time family friends. i had a BLAST with them (thank you!) shopping, eating at different restaurants, and being surrounded by so many talented dancers. i was practically engulfed by dance everyday and i loved every minute of it.

the first night i was there, i went to debbie reynolds studio and took a class in the infamous “studio c” that i’ve always seen on youtube videos. an artist named chonique (i hope i have the right one listed =\) taught the hip hop class that wednesday night (if you watched this last season of sytycd, she’s the artist of the song for the geisha performance by the top 10 girls).  she taught a piece to aaliyah’s “one in a million”, in remembrance of her death (aug 25).  the class was taught fairly quickly, but everyone picked up SOO fast. all the students had their own style with every move. ive never felt so little =[

after class, an open studio session was held where people come in to work on anything and everything. i saw lockers, bboys, whacking, pretty much everything you could imagine, ranging from all ages (no joke).  i recognized the professor (almost made top 20 on sytycd season 8) and yeah, i was a bit giddy… not as much as i was when i was standing next to kyle hanagami in the check-out line at 7-11 =D i was expecting to see him teach or just chat to students, but instead HE was having a mini-lesson with richie rich (a locking master). he didnt stop there. afterwards, he was having a playful battle with a woman who was whacking/voguing.  her attitude was so confident and she never took her eyes off her target. that definitely caught my eye. she taught him little details about whacking/voguing that made a big difference in his “performance”. i was glad to see that even though you might be recognized on a national television show, you should still be hungry to learn because there’s always room to grow.

another night, my cousin took me to see cirque du soleil’s “iris” (yeeee!) at the kodak theatre. it was my first time going to a cirque du soleil show and i was just… amazed. it’s like a grown-up circus for adults (in my opinion). the acrobats were indescribable from the trapeze to jumping off buildings to seeing little men in alien suits doing back flips off other men’s feet. you had to pay attention to everything going on. it was a bit overwhelming, but i noticed mini acts off stage, still visible to the audience. there wasn’t a whole lot of dancing, but every act required some type of choreography.  each act fit the music so well.  all the tricks required a lot of time and dedication in order for the whole act to be perfect. their lives are at stake! i did see, however, during a cops and robbers scene, one of the guys missed the trampoline and hit his head on the rim =\ i was surprised to see him continue the act until it was over.  when the lights dimmed, i saw him really slowly crawl off the stage. hopefully he’s okay, but that showed me that you have to keep going and give it your all.  no matter what, the show must continue.

LASTLY (promise), i spent my entire weekend at one of the, if not the, biggest bboy jam in the states called freestyle session. it was my very first bboy jam and i loved it! the venue was separated into 2, one side was for bboys and the other was for poppers and lockers. the first half of the day is an open cypher. the dancers continuously form circles around each other. pretty much everyone had something to bring to the table. i like that these dancers were so family-like to each other. no beef, drama, or anything like that (despite their cockiness during the battles, but thats natural). everyone was there to show their talent and grow from each other. when it was time for the battles… omg i was in AWE. im not a bboy expert or a bgirl for that matter, but there were groups that you KNEW shouldnt be on stage cause they were still in their prime compared to other groups (gj for trying!). some bboys i recognized by name because my bf would show me videos of their battles like kid david (he was so good on stage). my favorite part of the jam was the finals. they didn’t keep the finale separated unlike the rest of the jam.  all the poppers, lockers, dancers, bboys, families, little kids, etc all went into one room to watch the individual final battles.  all these people are so good at what they do and to be able to advance from round after round based off their own talent should make them feel unstoppable.. well, thats how i would feel =p being squished in that one room felt….. good. simply, good and happy to see everyone with similiar interests come together to watch those on stage do their best at what theyre good at.

i dont think ive felt more appreciative for dance before this vacation. this inspires me for my next piece. i want to do something about cohesion. dont ask questions cause idk what it’ll be about, how it’ll get that way, etc, but im crossing my fingers for this one. most of my pieces don’t have meaning behind it because i dance how i feel and for pure enjoyment, so this will be my first! wait.. maybe 2nd…